Christmas spirits...

Those of you who follow me on Instagram will have seen the preparations for my annual Christmas tipple earlier in the year. Normally I make sloe gin but this year I decided to do something a little different and used elderberries instead. Picking elderberries is somewhat easier than picking sloes (the Blackthorn is covered in very long and sharp spines) but you are in competition with the birds, particularly blackbirds, who hide any of their previous shyness in attempting to pick more than you. This does make it quite tricky to pick them at their best, the birds having a distinct advantage of not being tied down to weekends. Only the ripe berries are edible, unripe berries having an unpleasant laxative effect but it is easy to discard the odd unripe one from the clusters once picked.

I don't like sweet drinks, so was keen to investigate a different recipe with less sugar. Sugar, however also acts as a preservative but a little diligent searching on the internet provided this recipe from the Guardian. I changed it slightly and used the recipe below -

Elderberry Liqueur

1 litre gin
800-900g elderberries
rind from one lemon
2 tbsp sugar (or more to taste)

Picking the berries of the stems is fairly tedious but after trying with a fork by far the easiest method is by hand (however, I briefly washed them on the clusters). Put the berries in a large mason jar and add the gin and lemon rind. Leave in a dark place until Christmas (about 3 months or so), shaking occasionally when you remember. About a week before bottling add the sugar and shake daily to dissolve. Bottle up in clean sterilised bottles and enjoy! The resulting liqueur is very dark, almost black, and has a rather mysterious fruity flavour. It is not tart at all, but those of you with more of a sweet tooth may wish to add more sugar if drinking it without a mixer.

The Elderberry, despite it's abundance and familiarity in our hedgerows, is a tree wrapped in mythology and folklore. It is said that an old witch lives within the tree, the 'Elder Mother' and that she will wish you harm if you damage the tree, so always whisper a respectful plea when picking the flowers or the berries and be sure to leave enough for the birds too. Elderberries are also an effective cold cure and this has surely got to be a more delightful way to take a little preventative winter medicine.

As a variant on the above, I also made a cranberry vodka. Steeping 200g of fresh cranberries in 800ml vodka with 100g caster sugar for about 3 weeks. The resulting spirit is almost luminescent pink and made fantastic cranberry vodka tonics with a squeeze of fresh lime. Not wanting to waste the vodka infused leftover cranberries after decanting, I used them up in a brownie recipe for Boxing Day lunch. These were a rather successful adult dessert served warm from the oven with some vanilla ice cream.

Bittersweet dark chocolate brownies with vodka infused cranberries

170g unsalted butter
200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
100g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
220g spelt flour
200g leftover cranberries from the cranberry vodka (or just fresh ones)
icing sugar to dust

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line a 20cm square baking tin with parchment. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. When both have melted, take the bowl off the pan and stir in the sugar and vanilla extract into the mixture. Lightly beat the eggs and whisk into the chocolate mixture then fold in the flour and finally the cranberries. Spoon into the tin and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out fairly clean. You want a slight crunch at the edges and a soft gooey centre. Cool on a wire rack and dust with icing sugar before slicing. Serve warm with ice cream or cold with a cup of tea.